A new TOAD!

In "RV'er" talk, a "toad" is a vehicle you tow behind your motorhome so that once you reach your destination, you have transportation. For 10 years, we have towed our faithful 2003 Sport Trac behind the motorhome and she has not given us a bit of trouble. But when we had the final tuneup before leaving northern Indiana, our mechanic said it was time to look for another vehicle "in earnest." It seems the little truck has three timing chains and they were rattling. He said it was impossible to tell how long it would last, but if the chains broke, it's expensive to fix. . . like REAL expensive. The only way to replace them is to pull the engine. That is about a $2-3000 job. A new engine is about $5-6000. So ever since Bruce told Terry that he has been on pins and needles hoping that the truck would last. All the time, that noise the chains make is getting louder and louder and lasting longer and longer.

So once we left Brandon's, we have been scouting around the larger cities where we stop and checking out vehicles. We really wanted another small truck, but there just is not one on the market today that fits our needs. So we started looking at cars. The problem is that we carry a spare tire for the motorhome in the truck, so it has to fit in the backend of the car. What we found that fits the bill is a Ford Flex. We test drove one in Mobile and ending up buying it. We feel like they made us a fair trade on our Sport Trac and we brought it back to camp and starting putting everything in it that had been in the truck. Amazingly, it all fits. We will be making a space for the tire in the basement of the motorhome, but that won't happen till next summer.

It's a very nice car, an SUV actually, with 3rd row seating. So we can carry the grandkids now, which makes me happy. We have found a few things that we want to add to it. It isn't brand new, it's a 2014, but we didn't want new to tow behind the motorhome. It looks like new inside/out, so we are very happy with it.

Our salesman had a friend from high school who has an RV shop with his parents and he is going to put the baseplate on the Flex and wire it for lights as well. He cannot do it till Tuesday, so we are moving across town to be closer to his shop.

Till next time. . .

Dale